Homer City Council awarded a new contract for the City Animal Shelter to the nonprofit Alaska Mindful Paws on Oct. 10.
The group will manage and operate the shelter as part of a two-year contract for $179,150 per year.
Amy Ware will be the new shelter manager as of Jan. 1, 2017. She’s had previous experience rescuing and fostering stray animals, and expects it to be a natural transition.
“I think it will be a smooth transition, but it will definitely be a work in progress,” Ware said. “I just know that come Jan. 1 not every program I want to implement is going to be there, but yeah. It’ll be a change. It’ll be a change right off the bat.”
Ware plans to set up a webpage for the Homer Animal Shelter that will include a list of all animals currently held at the shelter.
She also would like to start a foster care program for animals waiting to be adopted.
Running the shelter as a nonprofit will be the biggest change in its operation, says Ware.
“I think it’s great going in as a nonprofit,” Ware said. “It’ll just open up a lot more opportunities for the shelter as far as writing grants and taking donations.”
She hopes the transition to nonprofit status will help increase community involvement.
“I just encourage the public to come and check it out, and really consider volunteering whether it’s walking dogs, we’d love new foster homes, just to come hang out with the cats; just get community involvement, y’know?” Ware said. “The shelter is run by the city and I just feel like we should all take part and really embrace it.”
Current manager Sherry Bess has run the Homer Animal Shelter for the past 26 years.
Bess chose not to bid on a renewal of the contract.
